Adequate hydration is crucial for your body to function properly. Like a well-oiled machine, your vital organs can run seamlessly with proper liquid intake. This doesn’t come as a surprise, considering that your body is made up of 60% water. When you’re well-hydrated, you tend to sleep better and can ward off infections more efficiently. For these reasons and more, water is, indeed, life.
As a primary biological need, your body often signals you to hydrate it as often as possible. And, in this case, more is always better. While you’re often bombarded with the reminder to take at least eight glasses a day, experts recommend to drink liquids in even greater volumes throughout the day.
That being said, here are the reasons why guzzling water and other types of beverage is always a great idea:
1. Water enhances physical performance
A well-hydrated individual can perform better and fulfill physical and mental tasks better. Water helps your body achieve what your mind conceives by promoting concentration, alertness, strength, and endurance. Hence, staying properly hydrated is essential in preparing for vigorous physical activities.
An athlete or gym buff perspires heavily while performing high-intensity workouts, and its highly recommended to replenish the lost fluids and the electrolytes with a healthy dose of water or sports drinks. For more tips on how to stay hydrated, you may check out sites like dripdrop.com.
Without adequate fluid intake, heavy physical activities may lead to life-threatening conditions, such as decreased blood pressure, heat cramps, and seizures.
2. Water regulates your body temperature
Have you ever noticed yourself wanting to drink more water while the sun’s out? That’s because humans are warm-blooded animals. This means you’re able to regulate your internal body temperature regardless of the ambient environment. Your hypothalamus, the tiny organ found in the brain, is tasked to release hormones to manage temperature and keep it at 37ºC.
Staying well-hydrated is crucial, as you continuously lose water through sweating amid the hot weather or while doing rigorous physical activities. Sweating is your body’s way of keeping you cool. And, as the process goes, you ought to replenish the fluids lost by chugging water and other liquids.
3. Water protects your joints
Your joints have lubricants, also called the synovial fluids, that work by reducing the friction between the bones. These fluids, as you may have guessed, are made up of water. Hydration is believed to be beneficial in preventing future joint problems because it minimizes inflammation and enhances cartilage functions.
In the short term, increasing your daily water intake ensures that synovial fluids work properly, allowing you to move seamlessly and helping prevent arthritis from weighing you down.
4. Water helps prevent constipation
Constipation is an uncomfortable condition that occurs when bowel movement becomes limited and stools become harder to pass. Not only is it uncomfortable, but constipation may lead to more problems down the road. Apart from increasing your fiber intake, water can also soften the stool.
5. Water promotes a healthy tummy
Staying hydrated during a meal helps your body break down food better. With this, your body is likely to dissolve nutrients from your diet more efficiently. Because of better nutrient absorption, you’re less likely to get sick and have less health-related problems.
6. Water helps flush out toxins, keeping your kidneys healthy
Your excretory system is responsible for flushing out the toxins from your body. To make the system work properly, you need to keep your kidneys healthy so they can continue to filter out waste more efficiently.
Keeping yourself from getting dehydrated helps prevent the formation of kidney stones, protects you from urinary tract infection (UTI), and avoids the instances of constipation.
7. Water may help you lose weight
Have you ever tried drinking water before a meal and feel full at a faster rate? When your stomach feels full, whether it’s from eating solid food or drinking water, it tells the brain to stop eating. Thus, guzzling water can stave off food cravings, leading to lesser food intake.
Water may also trigger a faster metabolism, allowing you to burn calories more quickly. Without enough hydration, your body won’t be able to break down stored fat as water is essential in metabolizing triglycerides and turning them into fatty acids and glycerol.
8. Water enhances blood circulation
Proper hydration can improve blood circulation as the blood flows more smoothly in and around your body. Taking warm water gives this activity an extra boost, being that warm water is a vasodilator, which means it can open up the blood vessels, allowing for a bigger area in which blood can flow.
It goes without saying that blood is primarily made up of water, thus, ingesting fluids helps it to circulate better.
9. Water may help fight off illnesses
Staying hydrated on a regular basis can help your body absorb more nutrients, increasing your body’s resistance to infections. Additionally, water may also effectively flush out toxins, some of which are responsible for certain illnesses.
Water can also help prevent constipation, stomach problems, UTI, and kidney stone formation, among other health conditions.
10. Water maintains cognitive functions
Your brain is made up of 85% water, hence, it’s a given that your cognitive functions are negatively impacted by dehydration. Without enough fluids, your brains cells can’t effectively send important messages to the different parts of the body to initiate proper functioning. In fact, a 2012 research revealed that inadequate water supply in your body can affect your focus and short-term memory.
11. Water helps improve mood
A 2018 study published in World Journal of Psychiatry done by medical specialists in Iran discovered that persons who drank water had lower risks of mental conditions, such as anxiety and depression, as compared to those who took less fluids. The study, which was participated by more than 3,000 persons, saw that anxiety levels were higher in participants who didn’t engage in proper hydration.
The reason may partly be due to the fact that dehydration impairs cognitive functions, leading to confusion and anxiety. Mild dehydration may likewise cause headaches, which can make one cranky and irritable.
12. Water improves skin quality
Want to look younger and more blooming? Sipping loads of water, avoiding sun exposure, and maintaining a healthy diet and lifestyle may help you achieve this goal. Fluids help hydrate your skin and enhance collagen production, keeping your skin supple and plump.
Final Thoughts
Proper hydration brings with it a host of benefits to your body as almost all bodily processes rely on water for optimal performance. So, drink as much as you can to continue doing the things that you love without hitches.